Two Poems by Susan Dale

August 2^nd, 06

The wind singing phrases

of bawdy clouds
And a draconian sun penetrating into
Heavy afternoon
Sun - miles deep 
Fathoms wide
Quivers of heat waves
wrapping around 
crackling tales of corn
bellowing with pomposity
To surge ten feet high
 
Standing water
rife with the debauchery
of spawning mosquitoes
Pink-gold frailty of peaches
Hanging in dreams of voluptuous peaks
 
Brooding heads of flowers
hanging down
 
Lustful vines of grapes
Bindweed enveloping a cringing landscape
Laser waves corresponding
With pink-cheeked tomatoes

Back of the woods, wheat fields

shorn of their beards
shimmer in brown corpses
 
Shrieks of black-eyed susans
Silver-blue thistles wearing spike helmets
Dragon flies painted with Art-Nouveau wings
 
And the lavish praise of butterflies on phlox
 
Mosquitoes with brass knuckles
Melancholy flies humming at the screen door
Honey sticky winds
Métiers of bird song; shadows of bird wings

A narrative of sun and sky

Of summer; languid, wet-lazy summer  

August

High, wide, deep August
Hot, thick, soupy
high-summer
Woven in garlands of chicory-blue and queen anne’s lace
Fastened with tansy buttons
 
Drinking nectar from orange lily cups.
Holding tight, breathing heavy
encompassing, erotic August

Every nook and cranny does she fill with wanton flesh.

Lover of the red-flame sun thrashing pigment from her skies

Ripening copious spawn.

Languid, lush August

of purple-popping grapes
And pools of black-eyed susans
Hammering heat pounding rivers and lakes to froth.
 
Succulent, sultry August
thunder drumbeats
and cracks of lightening
sizzlingthe skies to curdle
to rent open
to rains of blind-passions 
That lick tree-tops, and suckle the steamy earth.

Decadent, voluptuous August

Climbing in vines thick and rampant
Tangling within themselves, wrapping around tree trunks.
Rushing lickety-split
up and up
Enshrouding swollen clouds of autumn‘s promise.
Bursting, juicy-ripe August
Rubbing sun-soaked limbs
Against the bronzy flesh
of melancholy September


   

Susan Dale’s poems and fiction are on Eastown Fiction, Ken *Again, Penman Review, Inner Art Journal, Feathered Flounder, and Hurricane Press. In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan.